Set Writing Goals That Actually Work
A realistic guide to planning your writing time, pace, deadlines, and creative process—without burning out.
Before you launch into writing, you must create a writing plan that sets you up for success. How do we do that? By first understanding what kind of writing plan will set you up for failure.
The greatest mistake you can make is to set yourself an unreasonable goal or deadline. It’s not uncommon for an author to request help with editing one month out from the book launch date they publicly declared on all of their social media channels. Or they might tell me that they have an arrangement with a publisher and a submission deadline that’s fast approaching… and not one word has been written. This happens because of a combination of enthusiasm, impatience, and total ignorance as to what it takes to get a book from concept to physical product. Deadlines are important, but they’re not the place to start.
Get a Grip on Your Time and Habits
There are two important pieces to grasp here: The existing time you have available for writing in your already-packed schedule, and how long it takes you to write a certain amount of words.
Let’s talk about your schedule first. Most first-time authors set a writing schedule or a goal without ever truly looking at their calendars to see how much time they have available for this endeavor. If you’re reading this article, you are likely a busy entrepreneur or career-oriented professional. You most likely have a family, and you spend a lot of time with them. You probably exercise and have some hobbies or practices that mean a lot to your well-being. A healthy writing habit should honor all of the things in your life that you already hold dear… meaning, you shouldn’t have to cut out or forgo anything that’s truly important to you.
You will have to make or find time, however. Look at your calendar and take into account all of the following:
Daily or weekly set open times that are available for writing
Daily or weekly set meetings or commitments
Upcoming holidays or vacations over the next six months that will take time or interrupt a writing schedule
Unscheduled time… for example, if you are a caretaker of children or parents, you likely don’t have your time with them scheduled on the calendar
Low-interest or low-stakes activities you could cancel or reschedule to make room for writing
Many of us go into this exercise thinking we’re going to have lots of time to write, only to look at our actual lives and what’s planned for the next six months and realize that we’re going to be lucky if we get three to five hours a week, or less. That might be sobering, but it’s better to start with a realistic idea of the time you actually have available to you, rather than an ideal that’s not based on reality. Setting writing goals that are misaligned with reality only sets you up for failure right out of the gate.
Consider Your Writing Speed
Next, you need to think about how quickly and how well you write. It can be tough to get this measure, especially if you’re just building a writing habit. It can be difficult to gauge how much work you can get done during each writing session. But we’re going to try, so you have a rough approximation of how long it will take you to write your book.
There are a couple of ways to gauge how much writing you get done in a given time. The first is to time yourself the next time you write an article or blog post. See how long it takes you to get from idea to rough draft.
You’ll need a few different samples—the speed of your writing is going to be dependent on the clarity of your thought. When you know what to say, writing goes faster. When you’re figuring it out as you go, you will write slower.
The average typing speed is 40 words per minute. If we say we have 60 minutes to write, and we write consistently at about the same speed, then it’s possible that we could write up to 2400 words in an hour. But wait! That time doesn’t account for the time we need to pause and take a sip of tea or coffee, to find that research or that note we made in another app, or to use the restroom, or to stare out the window while we figure something out. It also doesn’t take into account the clarity the writer does or doesn’t have about what they’re writing.
So, if we take into account the reality of being human, let’s just say that for someone with a typing speed of at least 40 words per minute, an hour’s worth of writing could generate between 1000 and 2000 words.
Create a Schedule That Works for You
When we consider writing schedules, it’s important to think about who you are as a writer. Are you someone who likes a strict, regular schedule? Or do you prefer more flexibility?
My friend, whom I call the “Erratic Magpie,” doesn’t like to operate by a schedule. She doesn’t like to be told exactly when to write. She wants to write when the inspiration strikes. The idea of a writing plan makes her skin crawl just a little, but she knows that she hasn’t been able to get it done by shooting from the hip. It takes her a little longer to finish things because they need to marinate. She needs some kind of plan to keep her on track, or she’ll get nowhere.
This is me. I’m talking about me—at least when it comes to my own creative work.
If this is you, consider setting a rough weekly goal, to be accomplished whenever the mood strikes. Some writers decide to set a goal of four hours per week, and they might hit that goal in one streak on a Tuesday afternoon or eke it out in 30-minute stints of free time. How you accomplish your goal might differ wildly week by week, but it’s setting the goal that matters.
However, this does not absolve you from planning out your week and putting your writing time in your schedule. Without that step, you’re not likely to find the time to write.
Set Deadlines That Motivate, Not Demoralize
Writers desperately need deadlines or the writing doesn’t get done. And there isn’t one writer I know who operates differently. With that in mind, I want you to set reasonable deadlines that motivate you and keep you moving, even in the face of resistance.
For the sake of kindness towards yourself, I’m requesting that you avoid arbitrary, absurdly short deadlines. A crushing deadline that doesn’t take into consideration everything we just discovered about your schedule and your writing habits and abilities is futile at best and demoralizing at worst. However, you still need deadlines, and you need to use them wisely.
Consider these approaches:
Be honest about your writing pace: Use what you know about your schedule and writing speed to determine a timeline that’s actually achievable.
Find an external motivation: Most of my clients are initially spurred to write a book because they are speaking at a major industry event in the next year, and they want to have a book ready to sell to the audience. This is a very good motivator if the author has started the process early enough.
Create accountability: I’ve learned the hard way that I’m not as accountable to myself as I would like to be, and my deadlines are far more likely to be met when there is someone else on the other side waiting to see my work. For a deadline to have any teeth, you need to set up a situation in which there is some kind of consequence if you don’t deliver on the date you set.
Use milestones throughout the process: Most people think of deadlines as part of the end game. Their editor or publisher expects their draft by a certain date. But deadlines can and should be used throughout the process. Set a deadline for when you want to be done creating the first draft of your outline. Set another one for getting one section of your book done.
Embrace the Reality of the Process
As your end-date approaches, you will have to get very realistic about your energetic resources. Could you go to that party the week of your deadline? You could, yes. But how much energy will that cost you? Could you keep your standing hair appointment the day before your deadline? You could, yes. But again, how much will that cost you in energy and in time? Don’t be afraid to turn down appointments, meetings, or commitments you’ve made. You can always reschedule and pick up the pieces when you’re finished.
Without fail, every time I’ve had a major deadline, something has come up: my kid or partner gets sick, a major appliance breaks down, or we have some other family emergency. This is almost guaranteed, so this means I go easy on myself and take it one step at a time. It’s very easy to shift into overdrive/panic mode and go too hard, but this rarely helps. What helps is letting the unimportant stuff go, like those loads of laundry or the dishes. It helps to be okay with ordering out more than usual or with canceling plans so you can have more breathing room to rest and write.
When you set writing goals that align with the reality of your life, not some idealized version where you have endless time and energy, you’ll find they actually work. You’ll make progress, maintain momentum, and eventually finish your book without burning yourself out in the process.
Remember, the goal isn’t to write your book as quickly as possible. The goal is to write a book you’re proud of, in a way that honors your life and your creative process. Set your goals accordingly, and watch your book take shape… one achievable milestone at a time.